After the premature exit of Gaël Monfils, Monday, the day of Tuesday, September 29 was not much happier for the French “camp” at Roland-Garros.
Ugo Humbert and Kristina Mladenovic, who entered the competition, did not make it past the first round. The first was beaten in four sets (6-2, 6-2, 3-6, 6-3) by Australian Marc Polmans, from qualifying. The second lost in straight sets against the German Laura Siegemund (7-5, 6-3).
Another tricolor took the direction of the exit from this first round: Harold Mayot, 412e world, which benefited from an invitation, was eliminated in three sets (7-6, 6-3, 7-5) by the Spaniard Davidovich (70e).
For his start in the competition, Noak Djokovic, for his part, did not drag too long on the court (1h38 of play). He finished the first set in 20 minutes on a 6-0. Then, the world number one was a little more “hooked” by the young (22 years) Swedish Mikael Ymer (80th world): he released two games in the second set (6-2), then three more games in the third ( 6-3).
But the one who is presented as the big favorite of the tournament, has in spite of everything overall “unfolded” his game.
Arbitration error against Mladenovic
Coming out of a complicated episode at the US Open – she had been confined to her hotel room after being declared a contact case of Benoît Paire, detected positive for Covid-10 – Kristina Mladenovic was nevertheless well on her way to her match. In the first set, she was leading 5-1.
But on the possible set point, the referee didn’t see that the ball had rebounded twice before Laura Siegemund played it. “The chair umpire was the only one not to have seen him on the Central”, lamented the Frenchwoman after the match, believing that we could “Call it a turning point”.
Kristina Mladenovic loses the point after the ball has doubled! On idle, it seems obvious but the arb … https://t.co/ZFpt0eE3Yv
The point and the first set, which should have gone to the French, escaped her. Deconcentrated, she then missed seven set points. And Laura Siegemund came back to win the round. Then the next set.
“I probably lowered my intensity and focus a bit. I was still thinking at this point when I should have concentrated on the rest ”, agreed Kristina Mladenovic.
Eliminated in the first round at the Australian Open in January, she has never passed the second round in ten tournaments played this year.
The (recent) taste of the earth not enough for Humbert
Ugo Humbert, 22, 38e world, which has never passed the course of the first round on the Parisian tournament, had nevertheless arrived on this autumnal edition with “A little confidence”, as he had explained before this meeting.
He who was usually classified among the players uncomfortable on clay had reached, in the previous weeks, the stage of the round of 16 at the tournament in Rome and the quarter-finals at the tournament in Hamburg.
In the Italian capital, the left-hander defeated Kevin Anderson and Fabio Fognini in straight sets, before yielding in three sets against Denis Shapovalov.
In Germany, he had confirmed by winning his first victory against a member of the Top 5, the Russian Daniil Medvedev, before giving in to Casper Ruud, one of the best players this season.
He admitted to having, on this double occasion, almost acquired a taste for playing on land. ” I do not know what happened. I do not understand “, he explained, Tuesday morning, in an interview published by The team.
Tuesday, against a player ranked at 122e world rank, apart from a breakthrough in the third set, Ugo Humbert suffered the service of his opponent and made too many mistakes to win.
“For two sets, I lack a bit of lucidity. I have to take the ball earlier to hurt more and hit harder. I have to make progress on this. In return too, I have to put more pressure ”, he explained after the meeting.
